Smeagal1965

Software Reviews by Smeagal1965

The reviews and opinions below are posted by SnapFiles visitors. They do not necessarily reflect our opinion, and they are solely based upon the experience of individual users.

AppCleaner

I'm very pleased with appcleaner

I have read a lot of bad reviews about this software and felt that I should tell my experiences with AppCleaner. I recently downloaded and installed the latest version and tried it. It was very fast compared to say Privazer, and cleaned much more than Ccleaner or Wise DC. Even after running the three mentioned cleaners beforehand, AppCleaner found another 2.43 gigs of junk! I have suffered no ill effects from the cleaning and it greatly improved overall speed and responsiveness of my Win 7 64 bit laptop. I'm not sure why people have had such bad luck with it. Maybe the earlier versions were dangerous but the latest version has been a blessing for me. Price: Free

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Roboscan Internet Security Free

Very nice but beware of firewall

The Nice Things: Even though there is a small Ad Banner on the bottom of the main GUI, Roboscan still has a nice and easy to navigate look. It has two layer protection. The Tera engine which is a heuristic engine and the world famous Bitdefender engine. It has Real Time virus and spyware/malware protection as well as a Self Protection module. It has a highly customizable but simple to configure Two Way Firewall (Please read cons). It has a highly customizable but simple to configure Scheduled scan function. Four scan modes, Quick scan, Basic scan, Advanced scan and Suggested or something of that nature. It can Auto Scan USB drives. It auto updates, it's free and much more! The Downfalls: The Firewall didn't pass my recent test on it. It appears that many ports are left opened. The ones closed were not stealth. I believe That even the native Windows Firewall does this better. That said it still provides two way protection and declines PING. Bottom Line: As a basic no hassle antivirus and spyware it does at least average and probably better. The firewall should be avoided. It is better to use the Windows firewall or something else. It has many nice features and at one time was VB100 certified. For average traffic computers and Laptops, Notebooks, etc.. it is a very light and fast alternative. Price: Free

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BitDefender Free Edition

None better for laptops

If you use a computer that is basically on 24 hrs a day then many other Av's will probably serve you better. However if you use a computer that is on at random times or no particular schedules (like most laptops) then I can't think of a better AV. With most Av's you have to be on at a particular time to make sure the scheduled anti-virus scan executes. Bitdefender is smart enough to run scans when you are on, based on memory use and the like. It updates automatically. Its free. Very unobtrusive. Uses very little resources. It also sports some HIPS features. It has blocked me from several malicious websites, terminated toxic downloads and kept me safe in public places. I will get the paid version soon. Price: Free

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System Explorer

Killed 3 birds with 1 program

I really love this program. I have tried several Task Manager type programs and find this to be my favorite. Since using this gem of a program I have been able to replace three other programs I was using. I had a program installed called Prio. Prio gave the windows Task Manager the ability to set process priority. System Explorer has that ability built right in so I uninstalled Prio. Saved me some disk space. I've always used memory cleaners and optimizers. Examples are Wise Memory optimizer, Cleanmem Mini Monitor and others of it's kind. System Explorer has the ability to clean ram on a schedule. Just look under advanced in the options menu. I uninstalled my other memory cleaner. This can replace the default Windows Task manager and I set it to do so. Now my computer starts faster, has more drive space and available ram. Before using System Explorer my computer would be at about 33 percent ram use at an idle state. Now at an idle state my computer sits around 26 percent. That's a big improvement! I am really impressed with this software and recommend it to anybody looking for an excellent alternative to the Windows Task Manager. If you are like me you may find that this jewel can really improve overall system performance and make managing your system much easier than before. Price: Free

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WinPatrol (Free Edition)

Free is not for me

Please note this review is about the free version only. I have had no experience with the paid version. First the good things: It's really easy on system resources. The download and install weren't horrendous and it seems to do what it claims at least to a point. It never has conflicted with any other software I use. The crippled version is free. Now the not so good things: I wonder how effective it really is. It never alerts me to anything....ever! Some might say that's a good thing but shouldn't it tell me when something has been removed from the autostart for example? It will sometimes but only after a reboot and then it could be too late! Summary: I think there are better solutions than WinPatrol free for many of the things it does. A good example would be Startup Delayer, found right here on SnapFiles. There are many process monitors and the like also. Try Startup Master by Smart PC Utilities. I found these and others to do a better job than WinPatrol, at least in the free version . That said WinPatrol is a decent program and it certainly won't cause ill to your PC, and may even prevent some. Price: Free

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Online Armor Free

Much more than just a firewall

To only call this a firewall is really an injustice. Online Armour Free is almost a full security suite in itself. What I mean by that is it has actual HIPS features and virus definitions and updates and everything! With Online Armour and a full fledged antivirus program you will be completely and totally protected from all the nasty & ugly's. I often used two antivirus programs together and a firewall until I discovered Online Armour Free here On SnapFiles. Now I only have an antivirus and this program, but feel more secure than before. It's really that good. My PC boots quicker because it doesn't have to load as many programs at start up. I have more available ram than before and less taskbar clutter. This is all good stuff! I'm more than pleased and will always keep this on my short list of security favorites. It is truly much more than just a firewall. Price: Free

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Wise Disk Cleaner Free

Luv this cleaner, can't believe bad reviews

Like my subject line says "Luv This Cleaner, Can't Believe Bad Reviews." I'm not saying the reviewers are dishonest, I'm just astonished about some of their comments concerning WDC. I have never had any negative issues with WDC, period. I can't say that for many other popular alternatives. I have literally tried dozens over the years and found this and Ccleaner to be the absolute safest. As a matter of fact WDC is the only one other than Ccleaner & PrivaZer I use for that very reason. Secondly it does clean the recycle bin. This is a WDC urban legend of sorts. It is an option under system. Just click the box. It's just not on by default. This has scheduled scanning for automatic set and forget cleanups. Many of the alternatives don't have this feature. Especially not 100 percent freeware like WDC is. It has a system slimming section that can free many gigs of space. I have never seen any other sport this feature. This is made by the same company who brings us Wisecare 365. Just go anywhere on the web and you can read about it's effectiveness and popularity. WDC is a component of this. Try this for yourself. Create a restore point first just in case, but I'm certain you won't need it. If you're like me and millions of others, then you will luv it too. Price: Free

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MCShield

A must-have usb antivirus

This professional looking software boast very fast and ultra lightweight performance. It can autoupdate virus signatures and the very program itself. It has auto quarantine in case of an infection and also has exclusion list. It will work right out of the box but is totally configurable for those who want it thier way. The options for this kind of software are remarkable to me! It is completely freeware and has no ads or the like. I really can't believe how well this works. It's absolutely perfect in every way. It's like they read my mind! I have tried probably 8 or 9 different kinds just recently and gave up. I ended up using the ClamWin & ClamSentinel combo to monitor my USB ports for storage devices and protect them. I came here looking to update my ClamWin and noticed this wonderful, wonderful software. The rest is history. MCShield should be tried by anyone looking for a great USB antivirus. I'm actually surprised it isn't much more popular given the fact that many viruses are spread through USB drives and such. Price: Free

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ClamWin

Perfect usb anti virus!!!

Pros: Very easy and quick install. Easily set-up and configured. Works right out of the box for most people. Works on everything from Windows 98 up to Windows 7 (x32 and x64 editions). I haven't tried it with Windows 8 yet. Completely freeware so there are no ads, nag screens or pop-ups asking you to upgrade to a pro edition. Clam Sentinel gives the much loved anti virus ClamWin real time protection! It's effective and it's free. Cons: The user interface is extremely utilitarian and somewhat ugly. Summary: I already have real time protection on my computer but wanted something dedicated to USB storage devices. I tried all of the anti virus software made for this purpose but none of them did the job for me. Then I got an epiphany! lol. I simply installed ClamWin and set it to update it's virus database once a day. Then I installed Clam Sentinel and under advanced settings I excluded my hard drives from being scanned. Now it just sits quietly waiting for me to plug a storage device into an USB port. When I do, it automatically recognizes it and ask if I want to scan the drive for viruses. Regardless if I choose to scan or not, it monitors and protects those devices (flash drives, external HD's, etc...) in real time until I unplug them. With this method it never uses resources it doesn't need or conflicts with other security software. Perfect USB anti virus! Price: Free

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Microsoft Security Essentials

Essential security for my pc

Like most reviewers I find this very light on resources, unobtrusive in behavior, very effective & easy to use. I really like Roboscan but decided after a lot of self debate to use MSE instead. Why? Because I can't help but feel that Microsoft has a vested interest in keeping thier own systems clean and the knowledge to do so. After all Microsoft invented Windows. Who would know how to protect it better? Another reason is that Microsoft products seem to just get better and better with age. Internet Explorer 10 is a great example of this. I just seems wise to me to use a security product by the same company who made my OS. Just my 2 cents. :o) Price: Free

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Privatefirewall

I haven't tried better

PrivateFirewall installs easily and very fast. It is very light on system resources and integrates with the Windows environment (Can control it from action center in Windows 7). It is ready to use right out of the box, but more advanced users can tweak it a little. Has a training mode to make it easier to configure rules. It has passed every test I could throw at it. I have tried several free firewalls over the years and the bottom line is, I have never tried better than PrivateFirewall! There are some just as good however. So why do I use PF? Firstly, it updates frequently. Secondly, it is very effective for my needs. Thirdly, it has very little if any negative impact on pc performance. It is ugly as sin however (lol). After trying them all I'm sticking with PF for the reasons mentioned above. It seems people have real mixed experiences with PF, so try it for yourself. Maybe you will be like me and find just the perfect firewall for your needs. Did I mention that it was really ugly? :o) Price: Free

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MusicBee

The bee is for me!

Like many people I have tried and loved many media playerorganizers over the past years. 20 or more years actually. I've tried all the big names and many obscure ones also. That said, MusicBee has all of the good qualities of them all without the downside to any of them! It Is very easy on system resources compared to 90 percent of the big names. It is highly customizable in appearance as well as sound. This is accomplished with skins and highly configurable layout options. The visualizations are superb. There are DSP plugins and a graphic equalizer. It handles large libraries very fast when updating added or removed items. If there is a con, it would be that MusicBee takes some time to learn how to use to it's full potential. MusicBee will work right out of the box however (so to speak). This is my all time favorite music player/organizer. It has excellent sound and I can set it up just the way I like it. I recommend this to anybody with a large music collection over any of the other similar products bought or free. Price: Free

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PrivaZer

A drive cleaner on steroids.

I have always been obsessed with a clean & junk free hard drive. So I've always had a plethora of drive cleaners and the like and would use them very often. I thought I had the cleaning thing all sewed up until I tried Privazer. After running this for the first time I couldn't believe what my drive properties was showing me. Even after running Ccleaner and Wise Disk cleaner before hand Privazer found another 6 Gigs of garbage. Tha's Gigs.... not megs or kilobytes! My Computer runs faster than it has in a long while now. Needless to say I'm Keeping Privazer. I have it scheduled to do a full clean once a week. Privazer is what the other cleaners want to be when they grow up. Price: Free

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Software Reviews by Smeagal1965

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